Roger Federer didn’t expect his gesture to be taken so seriously, but apparently it did. The Swiss Tennis star was pictured admiring the blue shirt of the World Cup Champions India, in a marketing photo shoot. He posted this picture right on the eve of the two sides ‘World Cup match at Adelaide last weekend and captioned the picture” Dressing up for a gentleman’s game today. #Bleed Blue.” The star clarified on the eve of the Dubai open, that it was nothing more than a Nike thing and he was sorry for sparking any fire. He further stated that it was a Nike campaign they had because he had made some of the Indian players and had just spent some time in India, so he was presented with the Indian shirt.
Federer shares the same sponsor as the Indian team and hence the photo shoot. The 17-time Grand Slam title winner claims to be more of South African supporter because of his mother Lynette, who is from South Africa. The Roger Federer Foundation has raised a large amount of money for the under privileged children if South Africa also. His actions however sent a totally different message to his Pakistani fans, who took it rather seriously. One student at Cambridge University in England, claimed in a local newspaper in Pakistan, that he had deleted all his Federer photos and had conducted a brief opinion poll that showed 10 out of 12 Pakistanis felt hurt at his stance.[junkie-alert style=”white”] Roger Federer sparked a fire among his Pakistani fans when he posted a picture of himself admiring the blue shirt of the World Cup Champions India captioned as “Dressing up for a gentleman’s game today” [/junkie-alert]
Federer stated that his support for sports was really dependent upon where he was. When he was in America and Europe, he would definitely not follow cricket, but when he was in Australia and in UAE, he would support cricket a little bit at times. The Swiss star is known to have connections with the Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who pays him regular visits each year to see Federer play. Virat Kohli also met Federer in Sydney in January, and posted a picture on his Twitter account, captioned as “absolute legend.”